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Our country may have made us an international environmental pariah by walking away from the Kyoto accord. But we Torontonians have cut our greenhouse gases by a whopping 15 per cent since 1990.

I say whopping, because the Kyoto accord our government snubbed called for a 6 per cent cut in emissions from 1990 levels.

We’ve more than doubled that.

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I was surprised to hear this. You might be, too. We as Canadians have grown used to disheartening news when it comes to climate change and government action. (Environment Canada says we will miss even our watered down Copenhagen targets by a long shot at the rate we are going.)

So I made some calls to city hall, to find out what was behind the recent report by the city’s Environment and Energy Office.

Here’s what I learned:

The bulk of Torontonians’ carbon reduction is in electricity. And for most of that, we can thank the province which has been closing coal-fired electricity-generating plants since 2005. Ten years ago, one quarter of our electricity came from coal. Last year, less than 3 per cent did.

But, Torontonians also use less electricity than we did 23 years ago. Our city has ballooned in population by more than 11 per cent while our electricity use has grown by only 3.7 per cent.

So, we are cutting back — although the number crunchers at the city are not sure why. They need more information, they say. I hope they get it. Statistics without context aren’t very useful.

Our other big cut to greenhouse emissions comes out of our trash.

We’re making less of it. Specifically, since the introduction of the green bin program, Torontonians toss fewer coffee grounds and banana peels into landfill, where they’re converted in to methane — a very potent greenhouse gas.

“It’s a success story for the people of Toronto,” says Jim Baxter, the director of the environment and energy office. “It shows that we can support economic growth and reduce our carbon impact at the same time.”

You won’t be surprised that our past mayor, David Miller, was behind most of this. His government set the city’s targets in 2007 — when the city’s emissions were 10 per cent higher than 1990. Under him, council approved 68 actions to reach their goal. Many of them — doubling the tree canopy, and completing the city’s bikeway network — never got off the ground. Others, such as the Transit City Plan and the motor vehicle registration fee, were started and scrapped.

But, others were set in place and we are gleaning the dividends today.

The Environment and Energy Office’s Baxter cites the city’s deep lake water cooling project as an example. Started in 2004, it pipes cold water underground to replace air conditioning in some 140 downtown buildings during the height of summer. That saves the grid 61 megawatts of energy during peak time, when greenhouse gas heavy gas plants work to juice up our humming air conditioning units.

“It’s not just about how much energy you save, but when you save it,” he said.

His point: with good policy, cities can make a difference.

The glaring hole is no surprise: transportation. Baxter’s department is still waiting for 2011 figures, but it estimates emissions from cars and trucks are up 15 per cent since 1990.

The report strangely points across the border to President Barack Obama for the answer. The theory: if he raises fuel efficiency standards as he promised before the election, then Canada will follow — and voila, our emissions from cars will be down 80 per cent by 2050.

Pretty disheartening in a report about Toronto’s achievements. Perhaps we should turn to Obama to fund our transit system, too.

I’d rather he focus on his own government’s climate change targets.

We all share the atmosphere. And while our city’s emissions are down, the world’s are soaring.

Last week, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego announced the atmosphere should reach a modern record of carbon this month — 400 parts per million. The last time carbon levels were that high was the Pliocene era, about 2.5 million to 5 million years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Back then, the average temperature on earth was three to four degrees higher than today and sea levels were up to 40 metres higher.

That prospect is nothing to be smug about.

Catherine Porter’s column usually appears on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. She can be reached at cporter@thestar.ca

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